Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
betide the glass-blower with wanderlust: trade secrets were so jealously guarded that any
glass-worker who left the city was accused of treason and subject to assassination. Today
glass artisans ply their trade at workshops along Murano's
Fondamenta dei Vetrai
marked by
Fornace
(furnace) signs. To ensure glass you buy is handmade in Murano and not factory-
fabricated elsewhere, look for the heart-shaped seal guarantee.
Museo del Vetro
(Glass Museum; 041 73 95 86;
www.museovetro.visitmuve.it
; Fondamenta Giustinian 8; adult/reduced
€8/5.50; 10am-6pm Apr-Oct, to 5pm Nov-Mar; Museo)
Since 1861, Murano's glass-making
prowess has earned pride of place in Palazzo Giustinian (the seat of the Torcello bishopric
from 1659 until its dissolution). Downstairs are priceless 1500-year-old examples of iri-
descent Roman glass, but upstairs Murano shows off in the frescoed
Salone Maggiore
(Grand Salon), with displays ranging from gold-flecked 17th-century winged aventurine
goblets to a botanically convincing 1930s glass cactus.
MUSEUM
WORTH A TRIP
A NORTHERN LAGOON BOAT TRIP
Whereas other cities sunk their history in foundations, Venice cast out across the lagoon's patchwork
of shifting mudflats, so understanding something of the lagoon is integral to understanding Venice.
Unesco recognised this by including the 550-sq-km (212-sq-mile) lagoon - the largest coastal wetland
in Europe - in its designation of Venice as a World Heritage Site in 1987.
Rich in unique flora and fauna, the tidal
barene
(shoals) and salt marshes are part of the city's
psyche. Between September and January more than 130,000 migrating birds nest, dive and dabble in
the shallows; while year-round fishing folk tend their nets and traps, and city-council workers dredge
canals and reinforce shifting islands of cord-grass and saltwort so essential to the lagoon's ecology.
Take a boat tour with Terra e Acqua (
Click here
) and dock for wine tasting at the Sant'Erasmo
can-
tina
, tour the quarantine island of Lazzaretto Nuovo and explore Sant'Andrea, the finest fort in the la-
goon. Then return to Venice as a rosy-tinted sunset frames the city's
campaniles
(bell towers).
TOP OF CHAPTER
1
Burano
Venice's lofty Gothic architecture might leave you feeling slightly loopy, but Burano will
bring you back to your senses with a reviving shock of colour. The 50-minute Laguna
Nord (LN) ferry ride from the Fondamente Nuove is packed with photographers bounding
